Introduction

Introdução

The past perfect is a verb tense which is used to show that an action took place once or many times before another point in the past.

O past perfect é um tempo verbal usado para mostrar que uma ação ocorreu uma ou muitas vezes antes de outro ponto no passado.

Forms

Forms

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two partes: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

O Past Perfect tense em inglês é composto de duas partes: o past tense do verbo to have (had) + o past participle do verbo principal.

Affirmative

S + had + V3/-ed.

We had asked.

Negative

S + had not / hadn’t + V3/-ed.

We hadn’t asked.

Interrogative

Had + S + V3/-ed?

Had they arrived?

Example: to decide

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had decided	I hadn’t decided	Had I decided?
You had decided	You hadn’t decided	Had you decided?
He, she, it had decided	He hadn’t decided	Had she decided?
We had decided	We hadn’t decided	Had we decided?
You had decided	You hadn’t decided	Had you decided?
They had decided	They hadn’t decided	Had they decided?

Past perfect, function

Past perfect, função

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that on event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first – the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

O past perfect se refere a um tempo anterior ao agora. É usado para deixar claro que um evento aconteceu antes de outro no passado. Não importa qual evento é mencionado primeiro - o tempo deixa claro qual aconteceu primeiro.

In these examples, Event A is the first or earliest event, Event B is the second or latest event:

Nestes exemplos, o Evento A é o primeiro ou o mais antigo evento, o Evento B é o segundo ou o mais recente evento:

a.	John had gone out (John tinha saído)	when I arrived in the office. (quando cheguei ao escritório.)
	Event A (Evento A)	Event B (Evento B)
b.	I had saved my document (Eu tinha salvo meu documento)	before the comupter crashed. (antes do computador travar.)
	Event A (Evento A)
c.	When they arrived (Quando eles chegaram)	we had already started cooking (nós já tínhamos começado a cozinhar)
	Event B (Evento B)	Event A (Evento A)
d.	He was very tired (Ele estava muito cansado)	becaouse he hadn’t slept well. (porque não tinha dormido bem.)
	Event B (Evento B)	Event A (Evento A)

Introduction

Introdução

Should have, could have, and would have are sometimes called “modals of lost opportunity” because they describe situations when we are imagining that the past was different.

Should have, could have, e would have às vezes são chamados de "modais de oportunidade perdida" porque descrevem situações em que estamos imaginando que o passado foi diferente.

Before we study those terms in the past, let’s review the difference between should, could, and would. The general rule is:

Antes de estudarmos esses termos no passado, vamos rever a diferença entre should, could e would. A regra geral é:

Should for recommendation / advice.

“If you want to lose weight, you should eat healthy food.”

Should para recomendação / conselho.

"Se você quer perder peso, deve comer alimentos saudáveis."

Could for possibilities.

“I have the day off tomorrow.”

“Great! We could spend the day at the beach. Or we could go shopping.”

Could para possibilidades.

"Eu tenho o dia de folga amanhã." 

"Ótimo! Podemos passar o dia na praia. Ou podemos ir às compras."

Would for imagining results.

“If I were rich, I would buy a boat.”

Would  para imaginar resultados.

"Se eu fosse rico, compraria um barco."

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Could have + past participle

Poderia ter + particípio passado

1. Could have + past participle means that something was possible in the past, or you had the ability to do something in the past, but that didn’t do it.

Could have + particípio passado significa que algo era possível no passado, ou que você tinha a capacidade de fazer algo no passado, mas isso não aconteceu.

• I could have stayed up late, but I decided to go to bed early.

Eu poderia ter ficado acordado até tarde, mas decidi ir para a cama cedo.

• They could have won the race, but they didn’t try hard enough.

Eles poderiam ter vencido a corrida, mas não se esforçaram o suficiente.

• Julie could have bought the book, but she borrowed it from the library instead.

Julie poderia ter comprado o livro, mas o pegou emprestado na biblioteca.

• He could have studied harder, but he was too lazy and that’s why he failed the exam.

Julie poderia ter comprado o livro, mas o pegou emprestado na biblioteca.